7:11 PM,
Mar. 4, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday places a candle and roses atop the Shrine of the Fallen in Kiev, Ukraine.

Written by

Vladimir Issachenkov
and Tim Sullivan

Stepping back from the brink of war, Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, saying Russia has no intention "to fight the Ukrainian people." But he reserved the right to use force.

As the Russian president held court in his personal residence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev's fledgling government and urged Putin to stand down.

"It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve," Kerry said. "That is not 21st-century, G-8, major nation behavior." ...